Randolph County, Missouri - Chapter 14: Townships, 1920

Cairo township lies in the second tier of townships from the northern boundary of Randolph, and in the central northeast part of the county. It contains an area of 21,920 acres, or a fraction over 34 square miles. The grand divide runs in a northwesterly direction through it, separating it into two nearly equal parts. Its territory was formerly a part of Sugar Creek township.

The soil is a rich black loam, overlaying a substratum of stiff clay that, when exposed to the influences of rain and sunshine, snow and frost, not only becomes friable and arable, but imparts a peculiar productive energy to the soil and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of certain crops. Hence, the meadows and grass fields that have been deeply stirred are among the best in the state, and the township is noted for the rich and nutritive quality of its grasses. The cereals, also, are cultivated with success. About two-thirds of the territory is a high rolling prairie.

The Wabash Railroad follows the divide and runs through the township; even the farmers who reside in the most remote parts of it are not more than six miles from a depot.

The East fork of Chariton River and Walnut Creek on the west side, and Mud Creek, Elk fork and Flat Creek on the east, afford plenty and never failing water for all the operations of the farm.

The average yield of farm products per acre is as follows: Corn, 30 bushels average, extra, 60 bushels; oats, 35 bushels average, extra, 50 bushels; hay, one and a half tons.

Among the early settlers in Cairo township were Leonard Dodson, from Kentucky; Andrew Goodding, from Kentucky; Samuel Martin, from Kentucky; Col. Robert Boucher, from Kentucky; Isaac Baker, from Kentucky; Benj. Huntsman, from Kentucky; Daniel McKinney, from Kentucky; James Cochran, from Kentucky; William King, from Kentucky; James T. Boney, from North Carolina; Benjamin Dameron, from North Carolina; W. S. Dameron, from North Carolina; Judge Joseph Goodding, from Kentucky.

Judge Joseph Goodding is said to have been the first settler in the township. He emigrated to Howard County, Mo., from Kentucky, in 1818, and in 1823 located in Cairo township. He was a prominent citizen, and filled the office of county judge three or four terms.

W. S. Dameron came to the township in 1841, from Huntsville, Mo., and has lived in Randolph County 52 years. He was born in Nirth Carolina, October 29, 1824.

Cairo was located in 1860, on the North division of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, eight miles from Huntsville, and seven miles north of Moberly, and 152 miles northwest of St. Louis. The town site originally comprised 40 acres, owned by W. S. Dameron, who donated five acres for depot purposes. The remaining 35 acres were laid out in lots. The new town was at first called Fairview, but there being another town of the same name, it was changed to Cairo, at the suggestion of Thomas Dameron. -«,'

P. G. McDaniel, from Kentucky, erected the first store building in the town; Thomas Dameron, the first dwelling house, located east of the railroad. J. C. Tedford was the pioneer physician. Abner Landram was the first blacksmith, and Thomas Carter was the first shoemaker. B. R. Boucher taught the first school. The Methodists (M. E. Church South) erected the first church edifice. Thomas Dameron was the first postmaster, and wrote the first mail matter that was sent from the town.

from north to south being seven and a half miles, giving an area of about 321/2 square miles. It is watered by the Middle and East forks of the Chariton, Muncus and Dark creeks, the slopes are gentle and the land lies in beautiful waves. Towards the southern and western parts of the township the hills become more abrupt, and in the vicinity of East fork, on the south, and the Middle fork, on the west, it is broken and somewhat ragged. This is one of the best farming sections of the county. The soil is deep and rich, affording such a variety, that, with care in selection of position, almost any crop may be developed in perfection. About onethird of the township is prairie, the balance timber land.

The Wabash Railroad passes through the southern part of the tovmship, and no point in it is distant more than seven miles from that road. This gives a convenient outlet to all the products of the farm and easy shipping of live stock and other farm products.

All the field crops yield heavy harvests. Corn will yield 8 to 12 barrels or 40 to 60 bushels to the acre; wheat, 15 to 25 bushels; oats, 40 to 50 bushels; hay, 1 to 2 tons. Besides this, blue grass spontaneously, and clover when cultivated give rich crops.

Kentucky is more largely represented in the early settlement of this township than any other state. Her sons and her daughters have ever been in the front ranks of civilization, and wherever they located, lived and died, there may be found even to this day, among the present generation, many of the traits of character which they possed. Early settlers in Clifton township are as follows:

Joseph Baker, from Kentucky; Charles Baker, from Kentucky; Noah C. Baker, from Kentucky; David Harris, from Kentucky; David ProfRt, from Kentucky ; Sadie Baker, from Kentucky ; Wm. Titus, from Kentucky ; Russell Shoemaker, from Kentucky ; Levi Fox, from Tennessee ; Samuel G. Johnson, from Tennessee; Joseph Harris, from Kentucky; Noah C. Harris, from Kentucky; James Holman, from Kentucky; Hiram Stamper, from Kentucky; John C. Turner, from Kentucky; Augustine Bradsher, from Kentucky ; Capt. N. G. Matlock, from Kentucky ; J. M. Summers, from Kentucky; T. J. Summers, from Kentucky; Judge D. J. Stamper, from Kentucky; James Ferguson, from Kentucky; A. G. Rucker, from Kentucky; David Bozarth, from Kentucky; F. H. Hackley, from Kentucky; David Milan, from Kentucky; W. H. Ball, from Kentucky; W. B. Crutchfield, from Kentucky; J. M. Creighton, from Kentucky; W. B. McCreary, from Kentucky; J. M. Patton, from Kentucky; E. Greer, from Kentucky; Thomas Williams, from Kentucky; J. H. Wayland, from Kentucky.

Samuel G. Johnson, born in 1807, who was one of the first settlers in the township, once speaking of early events, said: "I came to the township October 16, 1833, from Wilson County, Tennessee. We all lived in log cabins. My cabin had a board roof, which was weighted down with poles. When there was a snow storm the snow would drift through the roof, and after the storm was over, the snow would be almost as deep on the inside of the cabin as on the outside, the beds being covered like the floor. I have awaked many a morning with my head and neck covered with snow, and after making a fire had to clear away the snow from around the fire, so my wife and children could get up to it and warm.

"The floor of my cabin consisted of loose planks, sawed by hand. The bedsteads were made of small logs, with poles put across and boards laid on them."

Such was the primitive method of living and yet there were compensations and pleasures which were experienced by these pioneers, that are wholly unknown to the people of today. The forests abounded with game and all the streams teemed with delicate varieties of fish.

The first mill that was erected in that section of the county, was built by Ezekiel Richardson, in 1824, on the Middle fork of the Chariton River. Richardson resided in Chariton County and sold the mill to Levi Fox.

The first religious services were held at Joseph Baker's house, but. were afterwards held at Ezekiel Richardson's cabin, about the year 1828, where they were continued until 1834, when Mr. Johnson's cabin was used, as a house of worship. After a period of four or five years, a small house,, known as Johnson's school house, was erected, which served the pui-poses. of a church and school. Here met these humble Christian worshipers, until 1846, when a larger and more costly building was constructed and. called Providence church. This edifice, although not a very stately and magnificent one, was something of an architectural wonder, as it contained 12 corners. The services above mentioned were conducted by the Methodists, who also erected Providence church. Among the early ministers of the gospel was Rev. John Shores, a Methodist.

Clifton Hill is the only town in the township and was laid out in 1866, on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 35, township 54, r.ange 16, and was named after David Clifton, who came from Owen County, Kentucky, about the year 1850, and was the owner of the town, site.

William Holman erected the first house that was built in the town. The first hotel was opened by Julius Rogers. Dr. J. J. Watts was the first physician to practice in the town. Dr. E. F. Wilson was the first resident physician. The first school was taught by Ansel Richardson, from Virginia. William Wagner and James Maddox were the first shoemakers, and W. M. Roberts and Cyrus Clifton were the pioneer blacksmiths.

Chariton township lies in the northwest corner of Randolph and borders on Macon and Chariton Counties. It was organized in 1832, and of territory originally belonging to Salt Spring township, and extended 12 miles into the present limits of Macon County. By the subsequent organization of that county Chariton township lost two-thirds of its territory, and was reduced to its present dimensions of 54 square miles in a rectangular shape, being nine miles long from east to west, by a width of six miles from north to south.

The first settlement was made in about the year 1829, by a few families on each side of Dark's Prairie, near the present site of Darksville. These were followed in the spring and fall of 1830 by others, and from that time the country was rapidly filled up by immigrants from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. In about three years from the time of its first settlement it had acquired sufficient population to justify its organization into a separate township, with Joseph Turner its first magistrate and Henry Smith its first constable.

The soil of this township, while ranking along with the best in the county, is remarkable for the uniformity of its adaptability to agricultural and grazing purposes. There is very little waste land in the whole township, and scarcely an acre can be found that is not valuable for growing grass or grain. The soil is principally a black loam of great fertility, and suflficiently undulating to avert disaster from the crops in extremely wet seasons, and yet sufficiently retentive of moisure to preserve them from total failure in extreme drouths. The township is about equally divided between timber and prairie land, the timber embracing wide margins along the streams, and the prairie occupying the intervening space.

This natural arrangement afforded the early settlers ample scope for selecting their lands with a proper division of timber and prairie, and has resulted in the establishment of some of the best organized farms for mixed farming in the county. The township is well watered by four principal streams and their tributaries, all flowing from north to south, and so well distributed as to furnish abundant stock water convenient to all the farms the year round. Along the eastern margin of the township flows the East fork of the Chariton, and through the central portion, at an average distance of two miles, are Dark creek, Muncas creek, and the Middle fork of the Chariton, while the western portion is watered by a tributary of the Chariton River, the latter of which flows from north to south just outside of the western boundary. Surface springs are not abundant, but unfailing living water is of easy access in well distributed localities throughout the entire township, by sinking wells to a depth of 10 to 30 feet. Its inhabitants are engaged almost exclusively in agricultural pursuits, and the well-improved condition of their farms indicate their general prosperity.

Darksville was settled in 1856, and takes its name from a creek called Dark creek. William Elliott was hunting in the township in 1821, and night overtaking him on the banks of a creek, he camped all night, and said that it was the darkest night he ever saw; hence the name. Dark creek.

Early settlers of Chariton township before 1848 were: John Summers, Aaron Summers, Johnson Wright, Allen Wright, Hezekiah Wright, Nathan Barrow, Daniel Barrow, Joshua Phipps, and James Phipps, from Kentucky; Robert Grimes, from Virginia; Robert Elliott, Robert Elliott, Jr., William Cristal, Thomas Rice, A. R. Rice, William H. Rice, George Shipp and Owen Singleton, from Kentucky; John W. W. Sears, from Virginia; Philip Baxter, William Terry, Jonathan Cozac and E. H. Trimble, from Kentucky ; John H. Hall, from Maine ; William Rutherford and John McCuUy, from Kentucky; Mathias Turner, Joseph Turner and John M. Turner, from Tennessee; Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Mary Dawkins and Henry Griffith, from Kentucky; John M. Gates, Giles F. Cook and James Carter, from Virginia ; James Lingo, Samuel Lingo, G. W. Harland, Isaac Harland and James Harland, from Tennessee ; Hancock Jackson and William Sumpter, from Kentucky; Burchard McCormick, John Gaines and John Head, from Virginia ; James Hinton, from North Carolina ; Green Shelton and N. Tuttle, from Tennessee ; William A. Hall and John H. Hall, from Maine ; Dr. R. L. Grizard, from Tennessee; Dr. Stephen Richmond, from North Carolina; John Harland, Josiah Harland, Lee Harland, Josiah Smith, Henry Smith, John Smith, James Smith, William Beard, Josiah Taylor, from Tennessee; William Redd, from Virginia; John Richmond, Samuel Richmond, James M. Richmond, John Dameron and James Dameron, from

One of the oldest settlers in the township was Judge Joseph Turner. He was born in North Carolina, in 1802, moved with his parents to Tennessee in 1815, was married in 1822, and moved to Missouri and entered the land on which he now resides, near Eldad church, in 1830. He was appointed justice of the peace before the township was organized, and had jurisdiction to the Iowa line. He held the office of justice of the peace until 1850. In 1861 he was appointed county court justice, was president of that body, and held the position nearly six years. When he first settled he had for neighbors Joseph Holman, George Epperly, Richard Blue and Asa Kirby. These were, perhaps, the first settlers on the west side of Dark's prairie. Richard Blue and Asa Kirby were the only heads of families then residing west of the Middle fork. John Richmond moved to Randolph County from Tennessee in 1830, and lived in Silver Creek town» ship until the fall of 1832, when he entered 120 acres of land where ne lived and built his cabin upon it in pioneer style. He raised a family of six children, four boys and two girls. When he first came to the township, the first settlers of that neighborhood, already mentioned, had been increased by the addition of Yancey Gray, Mark Crabtree, Samuel Rich- mond, Josiah Smith, Henry Smith, James Lingo, Samuel Lingo, Isaac Harlan, John Withes, Andrew Baker, Tyree Baker, Jesse Miller Thomas Kirkpatrick and Greenbury Shelton. Some of these made their settlements about the same time with Mr. Richmond. Among those who settled in his neighborhood soon after him were Daniel Milam, John Gray, Jonathan Haynes, Thomas Brookes, John McCully and Madison Richmond. On the east side of Dark's prairie, south and east of the present site of Dailcsville, were living at that time (1832) Johnson Wright, John Waymire, Joseph Summers, Hodge England, and Pleasant and Nicholas Tuttle. With the last named lived their father, a very aged man and a revolutionary soldier.

Among the strongest minded and most influential men of his day in that township was John M. Yates. He immigrated from Kentucky to Randolph County about 1835 and after living a year or two in the southern part of the county, settled on Dark's prairie about the year 1835, and died on a farm adjoining the one he first settled in the year 1872. He was twice married and raised 15 children, 13 of his own and 2 step-daughters.

Mr. Yates was an uncle of the celebrated Richard Yates, once Governor of Illinois and U. S. Senator from that state, and was himself a man of much more than ordinary intelligence and soundness of judgment.

Judge William A. Hall was born and partly raised in the State of Maine. His father having been appointed to a position in the U. S. armory at Harper's Ferry, Va., he moved with his parents to that place, and when they moved to Chariton township, about the year 1839, he soon followed them, being then a young man nearly 25 years of age. About that time his father died, and he made his home with his widowed mother, although he kept his law office in Fayette, Mo., and for a short time edited a Democratic paper in that place. He made regular visits to his mother's home in Chariton County whenever his professional duties would permit, and very often walked the entire distance of over thirty miles. He rapidly advanced to the front rank in his profession, and on the death of Judge Leiand, which occurred about the year 1846, he was appointed by the Governor judge of this judicial circuit, a position to which he was continuously re-elected until 1861, when he was elected to represent the district of which Randolph was a part, in the U. S. Congress. About the time he was first appointed judge, he was married to Miss Octavia Sebree, a niece and adopted daughter of Uriel Sebree, a prominent citizen of Howard County. Soon after his marriage he settled on his farm in Chariton

In the winter of 1860-61, Judge Hall was chosen, with Gen. Sterling Price, to represent this senatorial district, then composed of Randolph and Chariton Counties, in the State convention called by the Legislature to consider the relations between the State of Missouri and the general government, in view of the then impending crisis which threatened a disruption of the Union by the secession of the Southern states. In that convention he sided with the majority in favor of the state continuing her allegiance and loyalty to the Union, and during the war that followed remained a consistent Union man. By his conservative position and able management he did more to protect the Southern people of this county and State from military despotism and the lawless acts of an unrestrained soldiery, than any other man. He was twice elected to Congress during the war, and at its close he resumed the practice of his profession at Huntsville, in which he continued until about 1874, when he improved another fami in the northwest comer of Chariton township, where he resided in complete retirement from public life, in the bosom of his family and surrounded by his flocks and herds.